You’ve seen them at development camp. Now it’s time to figure out where the Kraken prospects will play this upcoming season.
With a few high-profile prospects expected to make the leap from the American Hockey League to the NHL, and several other players set to “graduate” to the AHL from junior hockey, there should be plenty of upward movement in Seattle’s system this year.
Graduating to NHL
Ryker Evans
Evans, 22, has little left to prove in the AHL. After flirting with being an NHL regular for parts of last season, we expect Evans to fill Brian Dumoulin’s spot on the roster in 2024-25 after the veteran left-shot blueliner was traded to Anaheim on July 2.
Shane Wright
After a successful campaign in Coachella Valley as a 20-year-old, the former fourth overall pick is poised to make the jump to Seattle’s lineup next season.
In the mix for NHL
Ryan Winterton
Carson Rehkopf
Logan Morrison
Even with the Kraken signing Chandler Stephenson, there’s still room for a player to break into a fourth-line role with Seattle in 2024-25. Another spot could even open up if Brandon Tanev is traded to free up cap space this season, something we could still foresee happening being that he is on the last year of a contract that carries a $3.5 million cap hit.
Winterton, 20, and Morrison, 22, are coming off productive first seasons with Coachella Valley. Winterton, who tallied 35 points in 58 games for the Firebirds, is a good potential fit for a checking line role with his play style and looked good in his end-of-season stint with the Kraken.
Carson Rehkopf is entering his 19-year-old season and isn’t eligible to play in the AHL due to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement. He will likely be sent back to Kitchener in the Ontario Hockey League for one last season of junior hockey. However, Rehkopf is one of Seattle’s best prospects and, while unlikely, he could fight for a roster spot in 2024-25 with a good training camp.
NHL long shots, likely headed to AHL
Ville Ottavainen
Ottavainen will almost certainly begin the season in the AHL, but he could be in the mix for the first call-up if an injury arises on the Kraken blue line. The 21-year-old rearguard’s development will be better served playing every day in the AHL than as a seventh defenseman for the Kraken, but he’s huge at 6-foot-5, 216 pounds, and he is well regarded in the organization. Ottavainen could have an NHL future.
NHL long shots, likely headed to junior
Berkly Catton
In a similar vein to Rehkopf, Catton, the Kraken’s first-round pick in 2024, has a very slim chance to make the NHL roster. More realistically, he’ll be immediately sent back to junior or, if he impresses in training camp, he’ll play the 10-game trail allotted to prospects while still retaining the option of having their contracts “slide.”
Graduating to AHL
Jagger Firkus
Ty Nelson
David Goyette
Jani Nyman
Niklas Kokko
Lleyton Roed
Firkus, Nelson, and Goyette are members of Seattle’s exciting 2022 draft class who are finally eligible to play in Coachella Valley after successful junior careers.
Nyman and goaltender Kokko are also members of said draft class and are expected to make the full-time jump to North America from their native Finland. Nyman had 43 points in 48 games for Ilves in Liiga, Finland’s top league. Kokko played for two teams in Liiga this past season and experienced his best success with Pelicans, posting a .926 save percentage and a 1.49 goals-against average and backstopping that team to the final.
Roed, a college free-agent signing, should be one to watch on Coachella Valley next season. The 21-year-old forward is coming off a 38-point season (30 games) for Bemidji State and can absolutely fly. He’s a fun player to watch.
Status up in the air
Andrei Loshko
Tyson Jugnauth
Both Loshko and Jugnauth are entering their 20-year-old seasons, meaning they are eligible to play in the AHL, but are unsigned. The Kraken could sign either of them and place them on the AHL roster, but that decision is two-fold: the Kraken first must decide whether it’s wise to add them to their prospect pool, then if there’s enough playing time available to put them on the AHL roster.
Loshko, a fourth-round selection in 2023, was traded to Rouyn-Noranda of the QMJHL before last season and posted 67 points (28 goals) in 64 games.
Not getting the role he expected with the Wisconsin Badgers, Jugnauth, a fourth-round pick in 2022, moved to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, where he was a point-per-game player (41 points in 41 games).
Staying/heading overseas
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard
Zeb Forsfjall
Kim Saarinen
Peetro Seppala
Visa Vedenpaa
Semyon Vyazovoy
Fisker-Mølgaard likely will play a minimum of one more season overseas before heading stateside. The Danish forward is set to return to HV71 in the SHL, Sweden’s top league, where he helped that club stave off relegation last season.
After playing the last two seasons for Coachella Valley, Seppala was signed by Orebro HK in the SHL this offseason. He remains in the Kraken system.
Returning to AHL
Tucker Robertson
Jacob Melanson
Luke Henman
Headed back to junior/overseas/NCAA
WHL
Julius Miettinen (Everett)
Caden Price (Kelowna)
Lukas Dragicevic (Prince Albert)
Ollie Josephson (Red Deer)
Clarke Caswell (Swift Current)
Kaden Hammell (Everett)
QMJHL
Alexis Bernier (Baie-Comeau)
OHL
Nathan Villeneuve (Sudbury)
Jakub Fibigr (Mississauga)
Eduard Sale (Kitchener)
NCAA
Zaccharya Wisdom (Colorado College)
Barrett Hall (St. Cloud State)
Justin Janicke (Notre Dame)
Ben MacDonald (Harvard)
All of the listed CHL players are too young for the AHL and will head back to juniors this next season.
We might not see the NCAA players for a while. The Kraken hold their rights until they run out of eligibility in college hockey. Janicke, an incoming senior at Notre Dame, is the closest to graduation of the bunch.
Eduard Sale is AHL eligible, as he’s European. He may well play in the OHL regardless, but the Kraken do have the option to put him in Coachella.
That is correct, as I understand it, as Sale was playing in Europe when drafted. It is a bit concerning for a first round pick to not take the opportunity to develop in the AHL when possible, like Wright did this year.
The same is true for Fisker Mølgaard. Although not a first round pick, you would think it would be better for his development, as he is a month older than Sale.
Wow, that is a lot of prospects or should I say possible trade bait to help improve their lack of scoring. They only added 2 players via free agency and in my eyes, is not enough to improve them on a competitive level. Remember a lot of other teams have improved as well. I like Tanev, as do many others, but he must change his many scoring chances into goals and remind him that a goalie is not the target.
I agree they should add another piece on offense, but I think the net of their additions is greater than just the two players they signed.
Directly, I think Stephenson’s will be an upgrade on Wennberg and Montour will be an upgrade on Schultz, but I think Shane Wright could likely be an improvement over what Yanni was able to do last season and moving him down to the fourth line should be an improvement over PEB.
That is effectively upgrading three forwards and a defenseman… but I still concur… I think they need to improve another forward.
Call me a hopeless optimist, but I think that Ryan Winterton will be a significant upgrade over the number of wingers who played on the fourth line last season. He just looked so good in the AHL playoffs. He scored, he won board battles, he crashed the net, he stood up for teammates in dust-ups. He looked like the Firebirds’ second-best forward behind only his linemate, Shane Wright. Coach Bylsma was sending their line out ahead of the veterans in the finals.
I think right now the fourth line is Kartye, Gourde, Tanev… which one of those guys is he replacing?
Maybe if they unload Tanev… but I think there are a lot of other options if that happens.
They def signed more than two players
A few random thoughts on what happens with the Kraken this season could impact these prospects:
1. Now that he is back from the PAP, the rumor of Laine and the Kraken will heat up again. Not sure the outlines of such a trade but I imagine a high pick (hopefully not first round) plus a prospect, with some salary retention. Who would that pick be out of this group? Maybe the previously mentioned Firkus?
2. I think there are three players on their final year who will likely the be dealt by the trade deadline, especially if the team is not close to the playoffs. They are Tanev, Gourde, and Borgen. I can see their replacements, if they are not already in the NHL, as Winterton, Morrison, and Ottavainen.
3. I wonder how closely they are tying the development of Kokko in the AHL to buying out Grubauer next summer, if he mails in another sub-.900 SV% season?
Rumor has that bluejackets want picks and prospects for laine and we can’t afford his cap hit anyways with out opening additional cap space. That is on top of what we might already have to move just to fit beniers contract at what ever cap hit it’ll be and still fill out the rest of the roster. Adding Laine contract just make it harder.
The Athletic reported Waddell saying he wants an “everyday line-up player” for Laine. He also indicated he would like to move him without retaining a significant portion of his salary.
With most teams having already allocated their cap for next season, I don’t see Columbus being able to create much of a market so I think they’re gonna have to either retain a fair amount or do something creative. I could see a Tanev for Laine deal being workable… but I sure hope it doesn’t happen.